Groups develop concept for park

May 16, 2012

CRIDERSVILLE — A local village is working on creating a legacy for their residents — in the form of park.

Former Cridersville Village Council member Dorance Thompson proposed an idea to council at the end of 2011 to create a park on the site of the former Cridersville Elementary School on Main Street.

Cridersville Village Council, Cridersville Lion’s Club and the Cridersville Historical Society have all paired to work together on this project.

“The plans are in works,” Councilor and Lion’s Club member Stacey Myers Cook said during Monday’s council meeting. “We officially launched the campaign at the Alumni Dinner held on May 5.”

At the dinner, a flyer was put together with a central concept of things to potentially incorporate into the park — which will be called Legacy Park.

Garmann-Miller & Associates, of Minster, were the designers for the new Cridersville Elementary School and the firm volunteered to prepare the initial design for Legacy Park.

Myers Cook said designs for the park in the flyer are just a concept and they are not a final plan by any means. She explained this will be a multi-year project.

“It is a big project,” Myers Cook said. “It’s one of the biggest projects I’ve ever worked on.”

The park will be funded by donations from citizens and from potential grants.

“The Legacy Park will be funded by whatever money we can raise,” Myers Cook said, “and get what we can get done on that.”

The planned Legacy Park will be done in phases, with the first phase including hardscape, which is installing concrete sidewalks, and softscape, which will include lawn, trees shrubs and perennials and site furnishings will include entry gate, signage, benches and fencing.

A few suggestions considered for inclusion in this project are a commons area, which is a spot for active play and space will be available for lawn chair seating for concerts and outdoor movies.

Also mentioned was a circle walk, which is a giant walk that will define the commons and will be beneficial for walkers and runners. A one-room school also is being discussed, as this will be an open-air shelter house designed to resemble Cridersville’s original one-room schoolhouse.

This will provide space for family picnics, a staging area for concerts, a place to project outdoor movies off of and a location for restrooms.

A splash park, an oil boom maze and legacy gate will also be options to consider while working on construction of the park.

In addition, Myers Cook mentioned that this park will include history of the village, with a variety of special features and interpretive signs that will tell those stories to the visitors of the park.

The village of Cridersville currently owns the former school site, the Cridersville Lions Club will manage the logistics of a capital campaign and construction phases and the Cridersville Historical Society will be the fiscal agent for this project and will provide all of the historical information.

Since this is an extensive project for the village, Myers Cook said it will take a couple years and will require volunteers as well as donations to help make it possible.

Along with donations, the village will apply for state and federal grants to help with costs.

“It will take all of us, working together to make Legacy Park a reality,” Myers Cook said.